Citation

O'Connell LA, Rigney MM, Dykstra DW, Hofmann HA. J. Neuroendocrinol. 2013; 25(7): 644-654.

Affiliation

Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin; Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/jne.12045

PMID

23631684

Abstract

Individuals integrate information about their environment into adaptive behavioural responses, yet how different sensory modalities contribute to these decisions and where in the brain this integration occurs is not well understood. We presented male cichlid fish (Astatotilapia burtoni) with sensory information in three social contexts: intruder challenge, reproductive opportunity, and a socially neutral situation. We then measured behavioural and hormonal responses along with induction of the immediate early gene c-Fos in candidate forebrain regions. In the intruder challenge context, males were exposed to either a visual stimulus of a dominant male, the putative male pheromone androstenedione, or both. We found that, compared to the neutral context, a visual stimulus was necessary and sufficient for an aggressive response, whereas both chemical and visual stimuli were needed for an androgen response. In the reproductive opportunity context, males were exposed to either a visual stimulus of a receptive female, a progesterone metabolite (female pheromone) only, or both. We further found that the visual stimulus is necessary and sufficient for an androgen response in the reproductive opportunity context. In the brain, we observed c-Fos induction in response to a visual challenge stimulus specifically in dopaminergic neurons of area Vc (the central region of the ventral telencephalon), a putative striatal homolog, whereas presentation of a chemical stimulus did not induce c-Fos induction in the intruder challenge context. Our results suggest that different sensory cues are processed in a social context-specific manner as part of adaptive decision-making processes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Language: en